The United States of Islamophobia

While Trump's Islamophobic rhetoric offend us, we should not forget that he wasn’t the one who started this anti-Muslim discourse in the United States. He’s just validating it and giving it a bigger, blunter platform. His statements are simply the most extreme manifestation of widespread and pervasive negative perceptions about Muslims.

The United States of Islamophobia written by BBC Correspondent Kim Ghattas is one of the best articles I have read about the issue. We Muslims often complain of skewed media reporting and opinions but seldom appreciates those who support us in mainstream media. below is the excerpt. But I will suggest reading the original OpEd published in Foreign Policy.

Since 9/11, in last 15 years, the number of Americans who view Muslims unfavorably have  grown dramatically from 39 percent to 61 percent --according to polls.  Such views translate into the escalation into hate crimes against Muslims.

Role of Print Media

A study "Are Muslims Collectively Responsible?" showed that over 25 years of coverage and headlines, the portrayal of Islam and Muslims in the New York Times was more negative than cancer, alcohol, and cocaine. Only 8 percent of the headlines had positive connotations for Islam and Muslims as compared to cancer that had 17 percent positive connotations.

Role of Popular Culture

The Oscar winner American Sniper is just one example out of 100's of Hollywood movies where Muslims are shown as savages and a race devoid of humanity. the release of film triggered a deluge of social media hate against Muslims.“American Sniper makes me wanna go shoot some fuckin Arabs,”tweeted one user, @dezmondharmon.

“Racism is never defeated by trying to appease the racist, by trying to show the good side of Islam or of Arabs. The way this is defeated is by direct challenge,” Zahr said. In other words, calling racism out is the best way to make it unacceptable, the way overt racism against African-Americans has become unacceptable, even if systemic discrimination remains widespread.

Read the original article